Alan Jones ponders radio return to ‘give voice’ to the silenced

More than a year after leaving the breakfast radio slot, Alan Jones says he would be tempted to return to the airwaves if the right offer came along.

Broadcaster Alan Jones, at home in Sydney, says he ‘may be interested’ in radio again now that his Nine contract has formally expired. Picture: John Feder

More than a year after departing the breakfast radio slot he dominated for more than three decades, broadcaster Alan Jones said he would consider a comeback if he was presented with the right offer.

The 80-year-old currently hosts his own weeknightly show on Sky News Australia and with his contract due to end in November, Jones told The Australian a return to radio wasn’t off the table.

“What the future holds, who knows,” Jones said. “Am I interested in radio? I’m interested in the media, I’m interested in the prosecution of ideas, that why I write and I broadcast on TV, but in relation to radio, who knows?

“It’s an open field, it’s a fertile field, if someone was interested in discussing something of that kind, I may be interested, I may not be interested.

“If someone wants to put a piece of paper in front of me I’ll be able to give them a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ in five days.”

The media stalwart’s $8m two-year contract with Nine Entertainment’s Sydney radio station 2GB ended last week on June 30, despite Jones having departed the station in May last year.

Nine paid out his full contract at the time, even though he exited with another 13 months to run on his deal.

During his tenure at 2GB, Jones notched up a record-breaking 226 consecutive breakfast radio survey wins. His popular breakfast program also broadcast into Queensland on station 4BC.

Now that he is no longer on the Nine payroll, Jones is free to explore his radio options but he said he remains loyal to Sky.

He delivers his 8pm show Monday through to Thursdays, and he also writes weekly columns in The Australian’s sports pages and in the news section of The Daily Telegraph.

“My first job is to get this work that I’m now doing done to the best I can possibly do it, and continue with the success we’re currently enjoying,” Jones said.

“But I don’t shut the door on radio, not on anything.”

In Jones’ final radio survey last year, he recorded a 17.9 per cent audience share in Sydney’s 5.30am-9am breakfast timeslot.

Since radio host Ben Fordham took over from Jones on 2GB breakfast, he has held on to the number one spot but in recent surveys the 44-year-old has suffered a significant decline – in the last survey his share sat at 13.5 per cent, down two percentage points on the previous poll.

The margin with ABC Sydney’s breakfast duo, Wendy Harmer and Robbie Buck, has narrowed, and Fordham is now just 0.4 percentage points ahead of the ABC pair. The next survey results are out on Tuesday.

Jones declined to comment on 2GB’s softening ratings in 2021 but said when it comes to the nation’s radio broadcasters, many hosts remain “too intimidated to say what needs to be said”, and many Australians are “screaming out” for conservative voices.

“The cancel culture warriors apparently are very powerful …” Jones said.

“There is a growing media trend which seems to willingly, readily, and too frequently accommodate the Left.

“There’s a whole viewpoint I think that is not being represented by contemporary media.”

Recent radio surveys have shown a shift away from talkback radio, to easy listening FM stations.

“If there’s been a drift away from talk stations there’s only one explanation, and that is you are saying things people don’t want to listen to,” Jones said.

According to Jones, the main difference between being a radio broadcaster and hosting a program on Sky is that he’s limited to the range of topics he can discuss on a political channel, as opposed to talking across many issues on radio, including news, politics, sport, arts and entertainment.

Jones also said there had to be “an appropriate defence of freedom of speech”, which had been “significantly” lacking during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Government and media and big pharma seem to be all in bed together,” he said.

“There’s no point to being in the chair or behind the microphone if you haven’t got any balls, and that’s what the public expect.”

Jones said Australians needed to be given all sides of the story around all issues – specifically citing the pandemic and climate change – to allow them to make up their own minds.

“It’s no good getting into bed with a political leader or politician so he’ll next have coffee with you or send you a Christmas card, that’s not the way to represent a) the integrity of the situation, or b) those people out there who don’t have a voice who are yearning for a voice,” he said.